Harvard at Santa Clara Monday Night; Game Almost Sold Out

Pictured: Jeremy Lin and the Crimson figure to be playing in
front of a pro-Harvard crowd Monday night for its final nonleague
game of the season at Santa Clara. The Particulars
Harvard continues its west coast swing Monday night when the
Crimson takes on Santa Clara University at 10 p.m. (EST). The game
is serving as a homecoming of sorts for Jeremy Lin and Oliver
McNally who hail from nearby Palo Alto and San Francisco,
respectively.

Series HistoryHarvard leads the all-time series, 2-1, having won the
last two games including a contest played last season in Cambridge,
Mass.

Last Year's MeetingJeremy Lin recorded game-highs of 17 points, nine assists
and three steals to go with five rebounds as Harvard raced past
visiting Santa Clara, 73-68. Lin converted 5 of 6 free throws in
the final 1:40 to help the Crimson hold off the Broncos, who faced
an uphill battle against a Crimson team that turned the ball over
just six times.

Doug Miller collected a career-high 15 points on
7-for-10 shooting while Drew Housman '09 had 16 points including
two early triples and four free throws in the final 30 seconds. As
a team, the Crimson was 8-for-16 from deep.

Santa Clara, which turned the ball over 20 times,
was led by Kevin Foster's 20 points. Foster scored 15 of his points
after the break. Harvard led by as many as 13 points in the first
half in a high-energy game but led by just two, 31-29, at the
break. After scoring six points in the first 1:28 of play, Santa
Clara needed 10 minutes to score its next six. The Broncos closed
out the period on a 10-1 run to trail 31-29 at halftime.

The visitors took a brief lead early in the second
half and led 37-36 after a Foster jumper. The Crimson then ripped
off 11 straight points. Two Perry Petty free throws got the Broncos
within 54-50 at eight minutes to play, but they never came closer
as Miller went hard to the rim for two and Oliver McNally scored
all five of his points in the next two minutes with the Crimson
pulling away.

After getting out to a rough 2-for-6 start at the
free throw line, Harvard made 15 of 18 in the second half.

Harvard's Last Time
OutHarvard jumped all over Seattle on Saturday, leading by as
many as 26 points in the first half, 52-26, before settling for a
92-71 victory in its first game in the state of Washington.

Four Crimson players netted double figures in the
first half with Jeremy Lin finishing with game-highs of 21 points
(8-9 FG) and four steals. Kyle Casey had a career-high 19 points
(7-10 FG), six boards and three assists in 23 minutes while Keith
Wright (16 points, three blocks) and Christian Webster (12 points,
five assists, five rebounds, three steals) rounded out the team's
top performers.

Harvard shot 74 percent for the first 18 minutes of
the game and finished better than 58 percent for the contest.

Santa Clara's Last Time
OutRobert Smith scored 17 points Saturday as Santa Clara
edged out New Hampshire, 71-68. Smith was 6-of-14 from the floor
with three triples while Michael Santos was 5-of-8 for 15 points.
Marc Trasolini came off the bench to score 12 points on 6-of-6 free
throw shooting for a Broncos team that made 23 of 27 at the
stripe.

Harvard Coach Tommy
AmakerTommy Amaker (Duke '87) begins his third season as head
coach of the Harvard men's basketball team. He registered his 200th
career coaching victory Nov. 13 in the 2009-10 season opener at
Holy Cross.

He brings a 209-177 career head coaching record
into the game, including a 109-83 record at Michigan at a 68-55
record at Seton Hall.

Amaker came to Harvard after a six year stint as
Michigan's head coach. Inheriting a program that was reeling from
institutional and NCAA sanctions, he led the Wolverines to the
postseason three times, winning the 2004 NIT title, reaching the
championship game of the 2006 NIT, and advancing to the second
round of the 2007 tournament. The 2006-07 season was Michigan's
second straight 20-win campaign and its third in four years. The
Wolverines were ranked as high as No. 20 in the nation during the
2005-06 season.

RPI WatchHarvard's RPI (collegerpi.com) has been rated as high as
21st (its highest ranking in school history) and is currently 26th
nationally. Cornell is rated 33rd.

William & Mary, which Harvard defeated, has
been as high as fifth and is currently seventh. The win is the only
Ivy League victory against a Top 25 RPI team this season.

Harvard has three of the Ivy's six wins against Top
100 teams (William & Mary, Rice, Boston College).

Playing The EastTwo of Harvard's losses have come against the top-ranked
conference this season, the Big East.

ParadeIn the latest edition of Parade Magazine (Dec. 27),
Harvard's 82-70 victory over Boston College in Jan., 2009 was named
as the nation's sporting "Upset of the Year."

NESN also listed the victory among BC's "Top 10
Defining Moments of the Decade."

Harvard has defeated BC in each their last two
meetings - both of which came during the 2009 calendar year.

In The Record BooksHarvard's 92-71 win at Seattle (1/02) set a program record
for nonleague victories in a season (10) - surpassing the previous
mark of nine set back in 1957-58.

Race To Double FiguresThis season, Harvard reached the 10-win plateau faster
than any season in the program's 99-year history (Jan. 2).

A-10Harvard's 66-53 win over George Washington (12/30) gave
the Crimson its first victory against a team from the Atlantic-10
Conference since the 1980-81 (Massachusetts). The A-10 was the
fourth-best ranked conference in the country at the time of
playing..

Streaks & StopsHarvard's 78-70 win at Boston University marked the first
Harvard victory at BU since the 1975 season - a streak of 34 years.

Harvard has stopped numerous streaks and gained
several "firsts" under Tommy Amaker, including:

-Program's best start in 25 years since going 8-0
to start the 1984-85 season.

-Program's best home record to start a season in 23
years since going 7-0 at Lavietes Pavilion to start the 1986-87
season.

-Program's most nonleague victories (10),
surpassing a mark of nine wins established in 1957-58.

-Program's fastest time to 10 victories (Jan. 2) in
a season.

-Program's highest-ever ranking in the RPI
(collegerpi) at #21 on January 1.

-Program's first win over a nationally-ranked team
with an 82-70 win at #17 Boston College in 2008-09.

-Program's first win over a BCS program with a
62-51 win over Michigan in 2007-08.

-Program's first Top 25 recruiting class by ESPN in
2008-09.

-Program's first win at Penn since 1989-90 season
with a win at The Palestra in 2008-09.

-Program's first win at Yale since 1998-99 season
with a win at the Lee Amphitheater in 2008-09.

-Ivy League-best seven road victories in
2008-09.

-Program's first weekend sweep of Penn-Princeton
since 1986-87 - and third-ever- in 2007-08.